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"The Art of the Bow" - GSIV Archery Guide

Gemstone IV Archery Guide

“The Art of the Bow”
By
Nuadjha kis'Anthri, the Briar Fox
Written February 2010

This guide aims to introduce a new archer to the range of options included in archery in Gemstone IV and to provide him or her some of the basic info that goes in to making a decision in terms of weapon choice and character build, all with an eye toward long-term character viability. Ideally, the information contained within it will also be of use to more experienced archers who would like to double check damage-factor and crit-rank tables or simply expand their own knowledge. The guide breaks down into several parts:

1. Basic Mechanics:
Bows and crossbows require ammunition, which can either be purchased at bowyer's shop, bought from other players, or made by the archer (see Fletching). Many people find ammunition to be the most irritating of the requirements for archery and the requirement turns many people off. Done properly, however, it's a very simple adjustment. For additional information, see the AIM and FIRE commands in the game.

You may hold your bow in either hand, though the game will automatically place it in your left hand (if it's free) if you use the READY and UNSHEATHE verbs.

Commands:
For Bows:

To get an arrow from a bundle:
>Get 1 my arrow from my (container) (or get 1 my (adjective) arrow from my container), Ex. Get 1 my faewood arrow from my quiver

This script would aim for the right eye, get an arrow, and fire at the creature you designate in the command line. Ex: .reye orc would fire an arrow at the orc's right eye.

Dealing with Blessed or E-Bladed Arrows:
You might find that you end up with a pile of single, uncharged arrows and a bundle of charged ones, and they can't be bundled back together, or perhaps you're running out of charges faster than you expect. That's because when you bless or e-blade a bundle of arrows, the *bundle* keeps the total number of charges. When you get an arrow, the arrow takes *two* charges with it. One gets used when you fire, the other remains so that you can put that arrow back in the bundle without any trouble, because you can't bundle two different arrows together (even if they only cost a silver more or less). Just make sure that you only fire arrows taken fresh from the bundle, and that you gather everything up and bundle them back together before you move on, and you'll be fine. You can always LOOK at the arrow to see if it's glowing with a holy light (blessed) or has a scintillating aura (e-bladed), too. Watch out for other people's arrows on the ground if another archer is hunting near you; you won't be able to bundle that other "wooden arrow" with yours if it has an ice eblade while yours have a fire eblade. You can tell by the color of the aura when you look at it.

Tip: You can add up to 999 charges to a bundle, and if you e-blade a couple of smaller bundles, you can bundle them together to get a nicely charged one that'll last you awhile.

2. Bows vs. Crossbows
Bows and crossbows come in two categories and five types: short bow, composite bow, long bow, light crossbow and heavy crossbow. Each has its advantages, though most experienced archers prefer the long bow. The basic rule is that the lighter the bow, the faster it fires and the weaker its damage factor (DF), which means that it doesn't do as much damage when it hits. This rule can get complicated, though, because the GS combat system takes into account a number of factors, including the type of bow, the target's armor, the target's natural critical or damage padding (if any), and your Dexterity Bonus (for critical weighting – see Ranged AS). Though crossbows are slower in most cases than bows, they add a +30 AS when fired while kneeling. Many people keep a couple cocked and loaded as backups, even if they normally use a bow. See the tables below for detailed information on calculating damage based on bow type, armor and wound location.

Another note on weights:
In addition to the weights above, a bundle of 100 arrows weighs 10lbs. However, warrior sheaths weigh .5lbs and can hold up to five weapons, reducing their weights by 2lbs each to a minimum of .5lbs. If you use a warrior-made quiver, you can carry a 3lb bow and four bundles of 20 arrows (2lbs each) at 5lbs of encumbrance (.5lb quiver weight, 1lb bow weight, .5lb bundle weights). If encumbrance is an issue for your character, you might use this method. Props go to Droit for realizing the utility of warrior sheaths for this purpose.

Crossbows:
Cocking time – varies depending on character Strength, wounds, and position (lying, standing, etc.)
Firing time – 2 seconds

The Base RT of a firing time is modified by character Strength Bonus and Strength spells and enhancives. For each 10 STR Bonus, 1 second is deducted from the firing RT. If an archer aims, this adds one second, and if an archer fires from hiding, this adds another second.

Example:
Nuadjha has a STR bonus of 25 and as a ranger uses Phoen's Strength (+10 Strength Bonus). This combination produces a STR Bonus of 35. With Wizard Strength (509), he can add another +15 STR Bonus and have a total Bonus of +50, which reduces his firing time by 5 seconds.

A STR Bonus of 50 produces these times for a longbow (base 7 seconds). Minimum RT is 3 seconds:

Aiming:
The basic rule here is that the smaller target, the harder it is to hit. A young archer will have great difficulty hitting anything, much less the smallest targets, like the eyes. Experienced archers will almost always aim for the eyes because of the low fatal crit rank threshold (rank 4 – see below), but younger archers will have better luck aiming for a leg, knocking the creature down, and then aiming for the neck or eyes.

Aiming from the open relies solely on the Perception Skill, while aiming from hiding relies on the Perception and Ambush skills.

Factors that affect aiming other than trainable skills are level vs. target, encumbrance, wounds on the upper body, and (I believe) profession. Certain spells also help (see below).

Sighting:
Sighting is the ranged version of critical weighting. It follows the same scale as crit and damage weighting (i.e. 10 points is “heavy” sighting). Unlike critical weighting, however, sighting helps you hit your targets rather than increasing the crit rank of a wound.

4. Puncture Damage and Fatal Crit Thresholds
There are three basic damage types for weapons in Gemstone – puncture, slash, and crush. Bows and crossbows only do puncture damage. To calculate damage from a hit using a DF table, take the endroll, subtract 100, and multiply the remainder by the DF. This is the “Raw Damage.” Depending on the creature's armor and padding, this raw damage will produce a critical rank of wound, which will add damage to the shot. Use the Puncture Crit Table (see Appendix) to locate wound area and identify crit rank and damage. Armor Crit Divisors (see below) will let you estimate how much raw damage it will take to achieve each crit rank. The information below is courtesy of the QRS (Quick Reference Script) and updated by Mark.

5. Puncture Immune and Resistant Creatures
**As of 08/01/11, I believe all previously puncture-immune critters have been updated to puncture-resistant.**

Some creatures in Gemstone still work on an older model (referred to now as pre-BCS – Basic Creature System). Of these creatures, a handful are immune to puncture damage, and as a result they can be an archer's bane. Examples are nightmare steeds, bone golems, and vaespilons. Most are undead. These creatures are slowly being updated to the BCS, which replaces puncture immunity with puncture resistance, which without going into mechanics, simply means that archers will hurt them, but not a lot. As a result of puncture immune and resistant creatures, some archers train in a supplemental hunting method – either another melee weapon or magic. One of the most popular builds of late is the Voln Fu Archer, since the two skills nicely complement each other and have similar requirements in terms of training. The major difference in that path is that an archer will also have to train in Brawling (see Sample Builds below). Others simply ignore these creatures, of which there aren't many.

6. Open Aiming vs. Sniping
The basic choice of an archer's existence is whether to be an open archer or a sniper. Open archers aim and fire without hiding, which has the advantage of speed but exposes the archer to injury. Snipers fire from hiding, which adds RT but can protect the archer. The open archery path requires significantly fewer Training Points, and most archers toward cap prefer it for its speed. However, some characters, whether because of their individual hunting style, level, or roleplay, do prefer to snipe. Sniping is one of the most effective CvC styles in the game, if that's your style. If sniping, train in as much hiding as possible, because some creatures are very perceptive, especially animals and the undead. If one is fighting an undead animal, then hiding may be very difficult. The more you train in hiding, the better your chances of staying hidden while you fire, as well.

7. Ranged AS and DS
Ranged AS and DS are the meat and potatoes of archery. See below, but if that information is too arcane, the basics are these: For AS, train ranged skill, ambush and perception (each to 2x). For DS, train ranged skill, ambush, perception (diminishing returns after 2x), and dodge. Armor and bow enchant add directly to DS, just as bow and arrow enchants (up to 10x combined) add to AS.

One of the advantages of ranged weapons is that it's so easy to get a 10x flaring weapon. One only needs a 5x bow and master-fletched, e-bladed arrows to have a +50 weapon with flares of your (mage's) choice. A 6x bow with plain e-bladed arrows is even simpler and doesn't require one to fletch (see below). This bonus follows the same rules as other enchanted weapons, which is bonus/2 (rounded down) determines the level at which you can use the enchant (Ex: +50/2 = level 25). You can hold a 5x bow and 5x arrows at level 13, however, and each level you gain, your AS will increase to the total allowed bonus.

At the lower levels, a new archer will often notice that Ranged AS compares unfavorably to Edged or other melee AS. Training 2x in Ambush and Perception and using a 10x bow/arrow combination, however, means that toward cap, Ranged AS will actually surpass melee AS for most builds (except ones heavily trained in CM, for example). In most cases, however, this relatively lower Ranged AS will make no difference, because creatures' DS to ranged weapons is generally lower (and sometimes much lower) than their DS to melee weapons. Some few creatures are the exceptions, however (i.e. Vvrael warlocks using tower shields).

Modifying Skills and Spells:
Surge of Strength (a combat maneuver): Helps reduce firing time by temporarily increasing STR Bonus
Shadow Mastery (a combat maneuver): Reduces stalking and hiding time and adds bonuses to hiding. SM will also allow a ranger using 608 to retain some of the AS bonus when sneaking.
Multi-Fire (a combat maneuver): Allows an archer to fire two or more unaimed arrows simultaneously, at one or multiple targets. However, I suggest you avoid this maneuver except for shits and giggles, since you can fire aimed single arrows faster.
Weapon Specification (a combat maneuver): By wspecing an arrow, an archer can gain up to +10 AS.
Phoen's Strength (606): Reduces firing time by increasing STR Bonus by +10
Wizard's Strength (509): Reduces firing time by increasing STR Bonus by +15
Camouflage (608): Instant hide and +30 AS for one attack. With sufficient hiding skill, an archer can stay hidden with a constant +30 AS bonus.
Self Control (613): Adds bonuses to aiming
Sneaking (617): Adds bonuses to hiding (increased with Blessings Lore)
Disarm Enhancement (404): Adds a bonus to aiming
Target posture (standing, kneeling, prone, etc.) - Accuracy bonuses for more immobile postures, such as being prone.
Encumbrance - Decreases accuracy.
Level - Decreases(/increases?) accuracy.

Animal Companions (630): Animal companions (available to advanced rangers) have a Guard command that generally lets them guard the ranger for up to -25 AS/+25 DS. With ranged (and thrown) weapons, there is no AS penalty.

N.B. Depending on how these spells are cast, ranks in MIU or AS may affect the bonus.

Enhancive Items:
With the release of enhancive items through the treasure system, it's become relatively easy to boost skills and stats. One is limited to a total +50 bonus to a skill and +40 bonus to a stat (+20 stat bonus). Though there are a number of ways enhancives can be useful, an archer with a low Strength bonus or, in particular, a Strength bonus only a point or three off from the next RT reduction (every +10 STR bonus) might find wearable Strength enhancives particularly useful. Dexterity bonus also adds directly to AS and increases phantom crit weighting (bonus/4).

Some of the most common enhancives for ranged weaponry are the "leather wrist guards" released at the Winterfest Caravan of 2008. They're +4 Ranged Weapons Bonus and one can wear two of them on the wrists. They cost about 2400 Bounty Points to recharge at the Adventurer's Guild.

Fusion is also an ideal way to increase one's ranged abilities.

9. Fletching
An archer has the capability to make his or her own arrows with a natural +5 bonus after mastering the artisan skill of fletching. The advantage of such arrows is that one can use faewood (natural 4x) to make 5x blessed arrows. With a 5x bow, an archer is at the maximum +50 AS. Many archers find it simpler to avoid undead creatures and use a 6x bow with ebladed (+20 flaring) ordinary arrows for a flaring +50 weapon, however. For comprehensive information on this ability, see:

Going along with that thought.. I'd probably remove AS/DS completely and just say "to increase your AS: train as much as you can in ambush and perception but be aware that it's going to take a bit to notice the benefit" and "to increase your DS: train as much as you can in perception but be aware that the DS gain drops sharply when in the 2x-3x range." Your later example builds reinforce these statements.

It really just depends on what you're going for with the guide. If someone wants more of the mechanics, they can investigate and ask further. I think for a basic guide it's going too in depth.

Other than that, it looks really good

Maybe add a companion fletching guide?

Oh, and I don't think the crit tables help the guide even if you're wanting an advanced guide.

Oh, and I don't think the crit tables help the guide even if you're wanting an advanced guide.

I think the crit table would make a good appendix, but only if you were to label lethal crit thresholds, which crits cause knockdowns, etc. What you could do in the guide, however, is to add a small table that lists the minimum fatal crit thresholds for each body part: